Emily

Emily and Ashlii waited outside the changing rooms in the dress shop, the first thing Celine wanted to do after Sheldon announced the train soiree was go dress shopping with her girls…which, for some reason, did not include Katherine, "I can't believe I left Leon in the TuesdayTux on his own." Ashlii fumbled at the straw swirling around her cup to avoid her fingertips, she hated that shop, so stupidly named because all Tuxedos were half price on Tuesdays.

"He'll be fine, just be thankful he doesn't have your mom's fashion sense." Emily joked, both girls laughed, but Ashlii soon got herself under control and turned to Emily,

"He, uhh….he told me something interesting last night…" Ashlii trailed off, hoping Emily would catch on,

"Oh yeah?" Sweet little Emily thought nothing of it…

"Yeah..he told me you were into Celine." Ashlii let that sentence linger for a while before awaiting an answer from a wide-eyed Emily, "Is it true? Do you like her?"

Oh..my…fucking..life….how the fuck did she know? How the fuck did Leon know? Then she thought on it….actually, how the fuck doesn't everybody else know? "umm-"

"How do I look?" Celine sing-songed as she threw back the curtains,

"Holy shit, Celine.." Ashlii's jaw hung from her face, "You look great." Celine beamed, she did look great in that sexy black dress, it complemented her perfectly,

"You're beautiful.." Emily's eyes twinkled in awe… awe and love and adoration, she didn't realise what she just said until it was too late.

"Thanks, Em." Celine blushed at any compliment, she was extremely modest like that, unlike Kathy who would reply to any kind of compliment with "I know." And a girly giggle. Celine went to go pay for the dress, and as Ashlii and Emily followed her, Ashlii leaned in close to Emily and said,

"You've really got it bad."

Leon

"No no no." Leon tutted, "This Tux is awful, I'm attending a quiet soiree, not going to a bar."

"Sorry, sir, I will find something more appropriate." The man gave a bow and left, Leon got to wonder where the girls had gotten to just as Emily walked in,

"Leon."

"Emily, what a pleasant surpri-"

"What did you say to Ashlii?"

For the first few seconds Leon hadn't a clue what his best friend meant, but the recollections returned to him….. "Oh, crap...I didn't mean to say anything to Ashlii, I'd had too much to drink." Emily hopped over to him with the help of her crutches, to her dismay, she still couldn't stand up too long on her own without them.

"Forget about that for now…..how long have you known?" Emily asked,

Leon arched an eyebrow, "What? How long have I known that you've been crazy in love with your best friend? Years, at first, I thought it was just a chick thing, but then I saw it…I used to like her too for a while, but then I saw the way you looked at her and I soon got over it."

Am I right to tell Emily all this? Can she deal with the truth of it all? Leon thought, "Emily, the only person who should know about this, doesn't."

"You can't say anything to Celine."

"I'm not going to say anything, you should."

"You're kidding me?" Emily laughed, "She'll hate me."

Leon adjusted the buttons of his tux, "What, no, Celine's not like that, she's nice to everybody…..even if she's not cool with it she'll still want to be you're friend."

"Leon!" Ashlii strolled in, shouting in a ridiculous voice that Leon hated, "What's taking you so long, come on , we gotta wrap this up, mom wants us home for dinner in twenty minutes, says she got some good news." Celine came in after Ashlii, they'd finished dress shopping early so they went out for a smoke.

"Good Lord, Ashlii, do you have to be so boisterous?" Leon asked, his sister gave him the middle finger.

"Yeah, yeah, come on." Ashlii said and went with Celine and Emily, not waiting for her brother.

Muhammad

Muhammad Koothrappali stumped his cigarette out on the wall of his father's mansion, "God, it feels good to be back on American soil." He said to his sister,

"Do you have to smoke in front of me? It's bad enough that I have to put up with it from Celine and Ashlii."

His bags didn't even hit the floor before the servants were at his feet, Raj descended the staircase, wine in hand, "Daddy!" Ameira ran into Raj's arms, Muhammad granted him a curt nod,

"How was India, did you enjoy your stay with Grandma and Grandpa?"

"I loved it, Antie Priya came over, she took me shopping, she let me ride her car in a closed off dirt track, I love that woman."

Raj had to laugh, it was exactly the kind of thing Priya would do, "Muhammad, you?"

"Yeah, Yeah it was good." He shrugged, "I'm pretty Jetlagged actually, dad, I think I'm gunna go to bed." As he dragged himself up to his room he could hear Raj and Ameira talking about Bridget Jones.